Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1857, 18 July 1874, Page 2

A fatal accident by drowning occurredyesterday at mid-day, in the lagoon at Seftoni Bridge. Two boys, named Albert; Jones and Austin Marshall, were paddling about in a canoe, which became unmanageable owing j to the rush of the incoming tide, and was \ carried broadside on with some force against ; the piles of the bridge. The canoe was one j of the rudest description in make, ..and; unsafe' under any circumstances, and it'; is perhaps to thi the mischance may ' be attributed. The boy, , Marshall says that when the canoe struck against the piles he jumped out on to the stone work built to protect the supports of the bridge, and that with the weight of Jones, who was in the opposite end, and nearly in the middle of the tide rip, the canoe went under water, leaving his companion struggling on the surface. The boy was carried under the bridge by the current, and whsn Marshall ran for help he was seen swimming . towards the bank in the direction of Pairhall's paddock. When Marshall returned with assistance, the poor lad was nowhere to be seen. The lagoon was carefully dragged by the po'ice and others all the afternoon, but up to sundown the body had not been recovered,. The deceased was a bright intelligent boy, about 13 years of age, the second son of Mr B. Jones, fruiterer, of Greymouth. lenders for fitting and fixing a 40-horse power steam-engine for the <ireymouth Coal Company will be received by the agents, Messrs G, W. Mxjsj and Co, up till 4 o'clock this afternoon, Tenders for the erection of a bridge over the Arahura river, and for the construction of deviation of Greenstone road, will be received at the Public Works Office, Greymouth, until 4 p.m. this afternoon. The election of a Committee of Management for the Grey River Hospital takes place to-day, between the hours of 12 noon and 5 o'clock p.m., at Gilmer's Hotel. The voting will be ballot, and subscribers of LI and upwards this year, are eligible to exercise this particular franchise. The Committee consists of thirteen members and, as will be seen by advertisement, there are twenty three nominations of gentlemen willing to act. ....... , -..-,, ■•,- ' At, the "Resident Magistrate's Court, yes. terday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M., Timothy O'Meara was charged under the Vagrant Act, with not having any visible and lawful means of support. Seigeant.Moller.said he had known the accused for six years, and for the last two years he had never done, any regular work. The residents of Rutherglen i and Paroa had complained to the police that the defendant was constantly anooying them, idling about, begging for food, and borrowing tools without ... asking . for them. ( .Several petty thefts had been committed, ! and the defendant was i suspected, although there, was not positive prpof that he was the guilty party. The accused who turned out to be a•■ very ready-witted vagrom, was a powerfulIpoking fellow, about six feet in height, all in rags, and- appeared a fair specimen of the genuine laisarmi., Hie cross-examined his Worship as 'to tW law of the case, and forcibly asserted that he was one of the decentest'mea in the community. He said he had onlyijojriVf^omhis i work : tohi? diurier when he Wai's arrested,, arid if he had' been let alone

by his Worship as to how he lired for the last three mouths, he said lie lived in a tent generally, but latterly he had not pitched his tent, for he had taken up his abode in one end of; a deserted house at Paroa, into which he said he had effected an entrance from' the other end ; and on being further questioned as to which was " theottierend," he replied, "the end that was burnt off." He had a claim at Rutherglen, and he expected to strike gold every day. He owed nobody anything but the baker, and be would pay him his money when he "got it out of the ground. " a f ter some consideration, his Worship sentenced the prisoner to a month's imprisonment, with hard labor, whereupon he informed the Court that "that sorb of law wouldn't do. at all, for : his claim might be jumped, and he would come on the Government for damages for the loss of his property, so he would." The prisoner was removed, loudly protesting his respectability. The only other business was the infliction of a fine of 10s upon the owner of another vagrant, in the shape of a horse found straying about the streets. The attention of the trade is drawn to the extensive cattle and sheep sales to be held at the Carleton yards, Ahaura, on Monday next. Messrs D. " Maclean and Co. will offer 60 head prime fat cattle and 40 head paddock fed stores, for Mr James Stewart ; and, after the cattle sale, Mr Richard Reeves will offer 400 Merino -wethers, for M'Laren Bros. A special meeting of the Borough Council was held at the Town Hall last evening, for the puroose of considering and adopting the schedules from the new bye-laws for wharfage and tonnage rates. Councillors Acheson. Glenn, Moore, Kerr, Hamilton, Dupre, and Maclean were present. Mr Hamilton brought up the proposed new bye-lawa for wharfage and tonnage dues, the schedule of which Hve have already published, which were carefully checked, and the amendments incorporated in the shape of notices of motion leg illy drawn, by Mr Perkius, acting as Solicitor for the Borough. There were very long and warm discussions over Reveral of the items, which can only be summarised. With regard to the first item on the list of Is for coal supplied from the wharf, Mr Hamilton, mado an explanation that the ' Committee found they had no power to charge for coal shipped from barges in the river or from leased wharves, all that was wanted was to protect the Council against small dealers bringing down a baageful of coal and taking up space wanted for wharfage purposes. Mr Kerr moved an amendment — "That all coal brought to port by rail way, and placed on Mawhera Quay for export, or w for home consumption, shall be free, and all coal brought from' the mines and deposited on Mawhera or Richmond Quays, without permission of the Borough Council shall be charged Is per ton. The amendment was put and lost, when a division was called for. For the amendment— Messrs Acheson, Dupre, and: Kerr. Against itMessrs Maclean, Moore, Glenn, Hamilton, and the Mayor. On the item logs 2d per 100 superficial feet, Mr Glenn moved that it be struck out;, which was carried. Sawn timber was reduced from 3d to Id per 100 superficial feet ; and parcels to be charged 3d each only if "deposited on the wharf " The schedule as amended was passed. With regard to the tonnage dues, Mr Maclean moved the following amendment " That on any sailing vessel arriving at the port with cargo amounting to one-fourth, and not exceeding one-half of her sailing capacity, 6d per ton register ; any sailing vessel arriving at the port with any car^o not oxceedind one-fourth of her carrying capacity —3d per ton register ; any sailing ves3el arriving at the port in ballast only, and for the purpose of loading coal or timber— Free. The amendment was carried. A long discussion took place with regard to the charges on the Disoatch, when she tendered the ocean steamers. Mr Kerr argued that she. ought to go free, as it was a benefit to the! port, bub several other members argued that ; th 6 Dispatch Company will be in a far better; position under the new regulations than; under the old. Mr Kerr proposed a resolu- • tion reducing the charge to 6d per ton, but it| was not seconded. The clause was carried.. The other business was nob important. The annual general meeting of the mem-; bers of the Church of England was held ati Trinity Church last evening. The meeting j was convened by the incumbent and churchwardens for the election of a new vestry and churchwardens and for the transaction of j other important business. The Rev G. T. N. | Watkins, the incumbent, was in the chair, j The minutes of the last annual meeting wem read and confirmed. L statement of accounts was presen ted and adopted and a vp te of thanks waspassedto the retiring churchwardens and' vestrymen. A vote of thanks was also passed to the choir-master. The churchwardens re- j ported that certain repairs were required in ■ the church buildings and improvements on ; the grounds. Mr W. S- Smith was appointed \ clergyman's churchwarden, and Mr W. H. j Revell was elected churchwarden by the: parishoners. The following gentlemen were '■ elected vestrymen -.-f Messrs G. King, J. ; Greenwood, J. G.Thomas, C. A. 0. Hardy,' i J. J. Blackmore, Hindmarsh, and Chamber- - lain. After disposing of a considerablejamount of routine business, the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. A meeting of the parishioners and other gentlemen who are intimate acquaintances and admirers of the ! 'ev. Father Belliard, the Roman Catholio pastor of Greymouth, was held at Sheedy's Hotel last evening, to take the steps towards presenting that gentleman with an appropriate token of their affection and esteem for him as a clergyman and a citizen, previous to his early departure for Christchurch, the scene of his future cleric d labors. The proceedings were entirely of a preliminary nature, and a committee was appointed to decide what shape the testimonial should take, and to make all arrangemeuts for the presentation. His Honor the Superintendent, M.L.C., and Mr John White, M.H.R., left Hokitika yesterday by the Claud Hamilton, for Wellington, and the Hon. Mr Lahman, M.L.C., left here by the same steamer. Previous to his departure, the Superintendent appointed Francis Christopher Tabart, Esq., to be Deputy-Superintendent during his absence. A. R. Guinness, Esq., M,P.C, has received the following letter from the Provincial Secretary, with regard to the sale of the Maori Gully Township, which he requests us to publish : — "Sib— l have the honor, to inform you that the Chief Commissioner of the waste. Lands Board reports that the Board considered it would be unwise to sell the township of Maori Gully, owing to the small extent of land (only about two acres and a half ) available for the township, 'and to the necessity of a number of the houses requiring moving into the line of streets.— l am, &Ci. Charles Woolcock, Provincial Secretary." l ..A meeting of the Paroa Road Board was held Jast night ; all the members were present except Mr Foly. Mr Adam Irving, of Paroa, was introduc -d to his seat, he having beea late.y elected in the room of Mr Chaa. ' Travis. A letter from the Superintendent-; was read, stating that be would not consent to an expenditure in excess of the Government grant for the Maori Point track; also, a letter from, the Provincial Secretary, Mr Woolcock, stating that the Boards throughout the Province were working most unsatisfactorily, and asking for suggestions with a view of ameliorating the presont state of affairs. It , was resplved that certain deductions be made from the contract for the Maori Point track, so as to bring' it within

the limits of the Government subsidy ; arid regarding the letter from the Provincial Secretary, it was decided to bring under his notice the very unfair treatment which the Boards had received at the hands of the County and Provincial Governments ia entirely cutting off their legitimate revenue, such as the proceeds from land sales in their district, and a certain proportion of the goldfields' revenue. The meeting then terminated. We (Cross) understand that a company is,' in the course of formation for the purpose of manufacturing the sulphur obtainable on I White Island. Mr Charles O'Neill, M.H.R , proceeded recently to Sydney, where hejias been engaged in making arrangements with other gentlemen with a view of starting; a company for this purpose. They propose making Ohiwa the site of operations, and doubtless the necessary plant for this purpose will shortly arrive for transmission there. The atmosphere on the island i 3 of such a description as to preclude, the possibility of conducting operations there, and the sulphur will therefore be shipped in boats to .Ohiwa, a distance of some tbirty-five miles. We have no doubt of the ultimate success of this new enterprise, and we only wonder that such a speculation never before occuered to some of our own capitalists. . ' : His Honor the Superintendent of Canterbury has directed the publication of the following regulation for the information of the officers under the Provincial Government :-i- --" No address or testimonial shall be accepted by any officer in respect of his official duties, without the sanction, in writing, of the Provincial Secretary or Secretary for Public Works." ; ":■■■; ' " ; At Redman's, Ross, the Bowen Extended claim are length euing their tail-race. After this work is done it is not likely that any further improvements will be required for six months. — lhe Koh-i-nor claim got • swamped but on Friday last, on account of the race whioh feeds the under-shot wheel i having burst. The race was repaired opt Saturday, and the claim was expecte i t6 be pumped dry yesterday It is intended to put another Bin lift on the upper shot; wheel, which should have the effect of keeping the claim dry, even when the top water for keep* j ing the wheels going is scarce. — A great many Chinaman are at Squatter's and Black's Creeks, and doing well.; i We notice that in Christchurch, a Masonic Scholarship of the value of L 25 per annum, tenable for three years, has been awarded to the son of Brother T. H. Green. He is a pupil at Melville House (Mr Cook's). j It has been suggested in New South Wales that the Australian Colonies should send a combined team to compete at the International Rifle competition at Wimbledon, in 1875. The idea has been taken up in Victoria, but as yet it seems that New Zealand has taken no steps towards joining in giving effect to the proposals. Surely the volunteers of this Colony will not suffer a team to be sent home for the above purpose, without one or more representatives of New Zealand being included in it. , With regard to the recent cases of frost? bite in Canterbury, the Times says :—- --"Thomas M'llroy, who was received into the hospital some short time since suffering from frost-bite, died on Friday last.; He was progressing favorably up to twelve hours before his death, when tetanus supervened, and resulted fatally. The man John M'Clellan, who was also frost-bitten, is doing well, but is certain to lose at least one-half of each foot." . ■; :,•:,--.: Two accidents have- just taken place in connection with the works at theWaitaki Bridge, the former resulting in the fracture of a leg (the sufferer being David Wilkie), and the second in death -James Glancie being the victim. Wilkie is in the hospital doing well. James Glancie, who Had both legs fractured and smashed, was compelled from their nature to undergo the operation of amputation of both, limbs. This was successfully perforated by Dr Wait assisted by Dr Fleming. The patient survived about an hour after the operation was completed, and theu succumbed. In both cases the accidents were occasioned by the giving way of the supports of the: cylinders while-being placed in position. It would seem that the Waitaki Bridge is beginning to acquire : an unenviable! ; reputation for accidents, . and . we ; : f eel sure that the public will agree with us that these constant accidents^ must have a cause, and that they have' a right to expect some ex-" planationjof them. • ; •: v ' The ■ A ustralasian of : June 13 says :— The agents for the Colonies caring for immigration" fight athome like Hal o 1 the Wynd— every one for his own hand. Nor are they all particular in depreciating Colonies' other than those they represent. , A New Zealand agent i in Scotland' boasted,- af a public meeting, of: oats grown in the Province of Canterbury! weighing, solb per bushel, and that this ' grain beat Canada and California at the Vienna Exhibition.; (He knew what would tickle the fancy of a Scotchman.) Te which a Canadian immigration commissioner retortß that this "trumpeter of New Zealand" forgot to mention the length of passage to the latter place — the liability of death Irom disease <>n so long a voyage, that a New Zealand emigrant ship had lately 30 or 40 deaths on board, and ihat taxation is LI per head, against Ll2 in New Zealand.. He might have added that there were no Maoris in Canada — only Redskins.